Buyer Beware

This object has some age to it. Without knowing what it is, it immediately appears to be a very handy object. You can pick it up and take it with you wherever you need to go. If you don't know what it is, you might use it to water plants, or to pour ice water.

This once was a very ordinary object, and one could easily imagine it on a shelf in a modern thrift shop or on Catawiki or somewhere vintagy. Pre-loved items are now all the rage and globalization has made it increasingly easy to sell and buy them. However, can we use objects as we see fit without understanding their cultural context?